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Verizon Communications Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam poured cold water on a report that suggests the phone giant is considering buying Internet ad firm AOL, but tipped his hand that the company is looking to hook up with partners.

McAdam told investors at the Citi Global Internet conference, “I think AOL along with lots of other media companies are potential for us to do partnering with on a commercial basis,” he said.

“But to say that we are having significant acquisition discussions is not really accurate.”

Verizon is close to AOL and is said to be its biggest advertiser and also a major sponsor of the firm’s Engadget tech site. Top members of Verizon’s marketing staff also appeared on stage at AOL’s upfront presentation for advertisers last spring.

“Everyone started talking across the divide about five months ago. There have been a lot of partnership conversations,” said a source familiar with discussions.

One analyst, Colby Synesael at Cowen and Co., valued AOL at $4 billion, not something Verizon would consider a large acquisition given its recent $130 billion deal to acquire the balance of Verizon Wireless.

The Bloomberg report goosed AOL’s stock Tuesday. It ended the session up 3.4 percent, in a down market, to close at $46.25.

The Verizon boss also said the firm would launch a mobile-first Web TV offering including scores of TV channels by mid-2015 and give its customers access to between 20 and 30 TV channels.

Twitter also generated some investor interest at the conference, rising 6.5 percent, to $38.76, Tuesday on a suggestion by former Yahoo! CEO Ross Levinsohn that it acquire Yahoo!.